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Sunday, January 09, 2011

Trader Mickey's Director

Here is an item that can clear up what seems to be an obvious mistake in the information I have seen so far regarding UM2, Trader Mickey. All sources (*) mention that Dave Hand was the director.But this little document from 1932, from Burt Gillett's own papers, mentions Gillett as director...

I have previously posted the draft here, and a part of the bar sheet here - in both I mentioned Hand as the director, but above document, and the handwriting on the bar sheet, which looks like all other Gillett handwriting that I have, convinces me that Gillett directed it. Hand himself mentions that his directorial debut was on my favorite, Prod. UM7 - Building a Building. The fact that the Trader Mickey draft mentions Hand may be the reason for the mix-up...?

Note the other info on this sheet (click the image) - it shows the start and finish dates in 1932 on the five films mentioned (UM8 being Mickey's Good Deed). I suspect these were the dates that Gillett's involvement started and the films were finished. They were then released some two and a half months after that end date.

An arrow points between King Neptune and Babes in the Woods. I do not have my great Merritt/Kaufman Silly Symphonies book on me (I'm back in Denmark), so I cannot check this in detail, but my "All Pictures Book" has the same production numbers on these films as on this document. The fact that the dates are so precise and are called "started" and "finished" implies that it is not a forward-looking document, but one that describes what has happened; it shows which films Gillett has directed.

(*) IMDb, Leonard Maltin's Of Mice and Magic, the draft of the film, and even the filmography in Dave Hand's "Memoirs," which was compiled by the Walt Disney Archives.

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About Me

Interested in animation since 1975, worked in Holland with Danish animator Børge Ring for four years (incl. on the Oscar-winning 'Anna & Bella'), then moved to Denmark in 1984.

Co-founder and co-owner since 1988 of A. Film, Europe's foremost animation studio, in business for over 25 years. We are the studio behind 'The Flight before Christmas', 'Help! I'm a Fish', 'Terkel in Trouble', 'Asterix and the Vikings', 'The Ugly Duckling and Me' and many more...

Currently the President and CEO of A. Film L.A., Inc. in Los Angeles,and director of "Miffy the Movie."

Though we are very involved in new techniques, I share a deep passion for Great Classical Animation with everyone at the studio;Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston's "Illusion of Life" is our bible.